6 min
Log Management
Taking a Message-Based Approach to Logging
When you think about it, a log entry is really nothing more than a message that
describes an event. As such, taking a message-based approach to logging by
utilizing messaging technologies makes sense. Messaging creates the loose
coupling that allows a logging system to be adaptable to the needs at hand and
extensible over time.
Understanding a Standard Logging Architecture
Typically, logging is implemented in an application using a logger
[https://docs.oracle.com/javase/7/docs/api/java/util/log
5 min
IT Ops
6 Best Practices for Effective IT Troubleshooting
System monitoring and troubleshooting
[https://www.rapid7.com/fundamentals/system-monitoring-and-troubleshooting/] can
be a time-consuming and frustrating activity. It’s not unusual for IT folks to
spend hours finding and fixing a problem that could have been resolved in 10
minutes had better troubleshooting tools and processes been in place.
Improving IT troubleshooting and monitoring doesn’t need to be an expensive
undertaking. Many times it’s just a matter of implementing a few company-wide
5 min
Log Management
3 Steps to Building an Effective Log Management Policy
You’re on Call Duty. You’re awoken in the middle of the night by your cell phone
in the throes of an SMS frenzy. You’re getting hundreds of messages from your
company’s logging service: a record is being written to a database, code is
being executed, a new container is being spun up, and on and on. None of these
messages matter to you. You just turn off your phone and go back to sleep.
The next day you go into the office only to find out that half the racks in your
datacenter went offline durin
9 min
InsightOps
3 Core Responsibilities for the Modern IT Operations Manager
In the good old days, IT operations
[https://www.rapid7.com/solutions/it-operations/] managers were responsible for
maintaining the infrastructure, meeting service levels agreements, sticking to
budget, and keeping employees happy. Life was not easy, but at least it was
familiar. You knew your hardware, your software, your employees. You determined
services levels based on what you could actually see and touch. You told people
what to do and they did it. While IT was perceived to be an expensive
2 min
DevOps
Introducing InsightOps: A New Approach to IT Monitoring and Troubleshooting
Today we are announcing the general availability of a brand new solution:
Rapid7
InsightOps [https://www.rapid7.com/products/insightops/]. This latest addition
to the Insight platform continues our mission to transform data into answers,
giving you the confidence and control to act quickly. InsightOps is Rapid7's
first IT-specific solution, enabling users to centralize data from
infrastructure, assets and applications, so they can monitor and troubleshoot
operational issues [https://www.rapid7.
3 min
IT Ops
Network Administrator’s Guide to Surviving an Audit: During the Audit
Last time
[/2017/03/31/network-administrators-guide-to-surviving-an-audit-preparation/] we
talked about how to prepare for an audit. In this installment we’ll cover what
to do once the audit begins. Let’s assume that you’re pretty well prepared.
You’ve done your homework and know pretty much what to expect. So, everything’s
good, right? Well, even though you’ve taken the time to prepare, you could be in
for some surprises. The keys to surviving an IT audit are pretty simple:
* Be truthful
*
7 min
IT Ops
Logging in a Software Defined Network
Background
This blog will give an overview of Software Defined Networks (SDN), present some
suggestions for logging in an SDN and finally present an overview of some
research work we are doing on SDN logging.
If we consider a Software Defined Network (SDN) paradigm is a racetrack, SDN
controllers are race cars. Networking vendors especially those in the
telecommunication area such as Deutsche Telecom, Orange, Vodafone use their own
SDN controllers to manage the orchestration of their own equi
5 min
IT Ops
Habits that Pay Off for Programmers
I would like to clarify something immediately with this post. Its title does
not contain the number 7, nor does it talk about effectiveness. That was
intentional. I have no interest in trying to piggy-back on Stephen Covey’s book
title to earn clicks, which would make this post a dime a dozen.
In fact, agoogle search of “good habits for programmers”
[https://www.google.com/#q=good+habits+for+programmers]yields just such an
appropriation, and it also yields exactly the sorts of articles and
3 min
IT Ops
Legacy apps in the data center, today's apps in the cloud
Have you found that your organization is developing new applications that are
cloud-based, but unable to move away from some established legacy systems? You
aren’t alone. This legacy/cloud hybrid environment is far more common than you
would expect. And when you look at the history behind these apps it does make
sense. Any organization that has been around for more than a few years probably
has some investment in at least one legacy application. Organizations that have
been around longer may h
4 min
IT Ops
Network Administrator’s Guide to Surviving an Audit: Preparation
Sooner or later, your organization will likely be the subject of an IT audit.
But as ominous as that sounds, it doesn’t have to be something to dread. If
you’re a network administrator, you’ll have a specific role in an audit. Since
audits are rarely small projects, you’ll likely be working with others
throughout the process. The best way to fulfill your specific role well is to be
prepared for an audit before it happens. Simply put, an audit is an examination
to determine if controls are suff
4 min
IT Ops
Log Analysis for System Troubleshooting
Systems of all kinds create log data constantly and voluminously. In searching
out the most compelling reasons to dig into and analyze such data, we compiled a
list of seven reasons that usually drive such activity. In this blog post we
tackle the first of those 7, which include:
1. System troubleshooting
2. Security incident response
3. Security troubleshooting
4. Performance troubleshooting
5. Understanding user behavior or activities
6. Compliance with security policies
7. Complianc
5 min
IT Ops
Logging for Fun: Things You'd Never Thought to Log
I work as a consultant in the software industry. This work affords me the
opportunity to see and interact with many different teams and thus to observe
prevailing trends. Among these teams, the attitude toward logging tends to be
one of resigned diligence.
That is, many developers view application logging the way they view flossing
their teeth: a necessary, dull maintenance activity that will pay dividends
later. Today, however, I’d like to encourage readers to consider a different
side of
8 min
IT Ops
Roots and Culture: Logging and the Telephone Bill
Telephone systems were the Internet before there was an Internet.
Think about it.
By 1920 millions of people were exchanging data on a worldwide network using a
device that connected on demand. Sounds like the Internet to me.
But unlike the current day Internet, the telephone system cost money to use.
Alexander Graham Bell’s investors wanted it that way. That’s why they gave him
the money. Thus, people who used the telephone system had to pay for it. So
going as far back as 1877, every mont
3 min
IT Ops
Never type a search query again!
Introducing Visual Search
In our never-ending effort to help you wrangle your infrastructure, we are
constantly improving and adding new functionality to Logentries. In that
spirit, today we are happy to announce Visual Search. Visual Search is truly a
one of a kind feature, it makes the whole process of an investigation shorter
and simpler. By automatically visualizing top trends appearing in your data,
Visual Search allows you to simply click to drill in and out of datasets to
identify tren
6 min
IT Ops
5 Rules of Pair Programming Etiquette
I like Pair Programming [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pair_programming]. I’ve
been doing it episodically for about 10 years. Whenever I’ve pair programmed, at
the end of a session, I’ve always walked away a better developer than when I
started.
However, the practice can be expensive when the pair doing the programming
are not efficient. When a lot of friction exists between the two coders
involved, costs can exceed double that of a single programmer trying to hash
things out on his or her ow